


Once Upon a Time

by AugustStories



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anger, Awesome Eileen Leahy, Family Feels, Friendship, Gabriel & Sam Winchester Friendship, Gabriel Takes Care of Sam Winchester, Grief/Mourning, Happy Ending, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Post-Episode: s14e20 Moriah, Reunions, Sam Winchester Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 17:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20196070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustStories/pseuds/AugustStories
Summary: Once upon a time he loved and lost.But Sam will get his happy ending.





	Once Upon a Time

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by me being unable to sleep and things happening on Twitter

Once upon a time there was a hunter who had given up on ever finding that happy ever after with the right person at his side to share in that dream because people he got close to got hurt, got killed, turned out to be the enemy.

Once upon a time there was a hunter who found himself breaking through those protective walls around his heart because there was a beautiful hunter, smart, kind, funny and more badass than he could ever dream to be.

Once upon a time there was a hunter who allowed himself to feel something again, who dared to fall in love with a woman who kicked ass, who easily held up with the craziness of his life, who could protect herself better than he could do for himself most of the time.

Once upon a time there was Sam Winchester who thought to have found the one and then lost Eileen Leahy not to a demon, not to angels, not to any monsters of the supernatural kind. He lost her to the worst monster of them all, humans, the British Men of Letters. And even the massacre they created against them to stop the Brits from killing them all didn't diminish the burning hatred in his guts at all.

Once upon a time there was Sam who stopped dreaming about love and relationships because if fate didn't even allow him to be with a fellow hunter there was no hope left at all.

\--

Once upon a time there was a movie night that triggered guilt and bad memories in Sam so heavy and sudden that he fled from their supposed relaxing hangout after they had returned with Gabriel from his revenge trip back to the bunker. He didn't think that his brother or Cas had noticed it much, they were too busy arguing over the movie, Rowena too amused over their constant need to talk over every scene.

He hadn't realized though that another pair of eyes had seen his mood turning South.

Upon leaving Dean's man cave behind, Sam had initially hesitated between burrying himself in bed and going down to the shooting range. The latter won out because the last weeks had brought up emotions again that he had thought to have under control again, had needed to take under control because they needed allies right now and not more enemies, even if he could never forgive the bastard for what... Shooting range it was.

He was down a whole set of ammunition when he got aware that he was no longer alone as a hand wordlessly handed him another box. "Can I ask whose face you are seeing?" Gabriel wanted to know from behind him after Sam had pushed off the ear protection, hands then blindly reloading his gun while he stared straight ahead at the target. The head of the outlined person was barely visible anymore, blown off by the shots he had all landed.

"Ketch." Sam tonelessly gave his answer and Gabriel was quiet for a good long moment, no joke, no stupid comment, he was even keeping his distance.

"Alright, can get behind that for sure, though I thought you guys are working with him now." Gabriel wondered out loud and instead of replying this time Sam slipped the headphones back on and emptied another clip right on target, slowly he could feel something in his chest loosen up again.

Slowly.

"I'll never consider Ketch an ally," he growled out when he was done with another round, Gabriel moved to lean against the pillar of wall next to him, hand holding out another clip in an offering. "He is a means to get somewhere. He is a source of information, something to be used. Never an ally." And whatever had improved inside of him got turned into white hot fury for good when he glanced over and saw Gabriel watching him, saw this face of a friend who only weeks before had been bloodied almost beyond recognition as Ketch's hand had pushed him down onto a chair.

He wrenched the clip into the gun chamber and pinched his hand in the process, cursing loudly he slammed both his hands to the surface of the booth wall

"Don't," he pleaded quietly and defeated already when Gabriel's fingers gently landed on his wrist, stopping whatever he had wanted to do, probably taking away the pain from a throbbing palm. Sam wanted to ride it out, wanted it to remind him where the ground under his feet was. "Just, please don't. Don't take it away." Sam closed his eyes when Gabriel wrapped a grounding hand around his wrist but didn't let Grace or magic follow.

"You're projecting, Sam. Loud. You're basically screaming," Gabriel told him though and Sam tried to breathe past this knot of guilt, pain, grief, anger and loss that was growing and growing inside his chest. It had just been one scene. One simple stupid scene in a stupid trashy movie that Dean had picked just to annoy Cas. Just a stupid scene. "Alright, just for the record, I'm not in your head. You know I would never do that to you anymore but..."

"But I'm very much shoving it at you right now," Sam wanted to know with a little hoarse laugh falling from his lips, Gabriel squeezed his wrist.

"Talk to me, Sam." He offered it up without any judgement, without any pressure, Sam could just as easily go back to shooting until his arm hurt or go up to his room, lie down in the dark and cry for the 'what if' he would never get an answer to.

"Ketch killed someone..." he started and had to take a deep breath before he could continue, he hadn't spoken about it in months and this movie had thrown him so much into something ugly. "When the British Men of Letters were hunting us down... Ketch, he... he chased his hellhounds onto someone... someone I..." He forced his eyes open again, just so he could see something else than the dead body in his mind, she didn't deserve to be remembered like that. She deserved to be remembered smiling, laughing, fighting, alive and shining bright. "Her name was Eileen. She was a hunter and I was falling in love with her."

"Oh, Sam."

"Ketch killed her with his hellhounds, chased her down for months. Until she was so paranoid and scared that she came back to America to get to us. _Us_. So she could feel safe and just goddamn breathe for a second." He breathed out heavily when it was all out and raised the hand Gabriel wasn't steadying to drag down his face, and it was also only then that he realized how much his hand was shaking. "I still want to kill him. For what he did to her. To my Mom. And now, for what he watched happen to you. I want him dead, and we need him. I hate it, Gabe, I _hate_ it."

"Once upon a timeI was on the end of that hatred," Gabriel began in a surprise reaction and Sam looked over to him, frowning slightly when he still found the archangel looking so calm. Taking his revenge out on Loki and his sons had really seemed to help him, not something one usually got from the violent path. "And believe me, Sam, one wouldn't want you as their enemy. You are determined when you want justice, and you have no trouble waiting ages for the right moment to strike. Ketch will get his justice, he will get what is coming for him, until then milk him for all the things he could be useful for."

"No word about revenge plans aren't healthy and grudges only make you older?" Sam questioned with a little half smile forming, especially when Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Got me confused with some other angel friend, Samsquatch?" Gabriel wanted to know with a chuckle and Sam shook his head over his own thoughts. "You're not finding that attitude with me, certainly not when it is justified. People like Ketch have their place in the afterlife and it's certainly not a slip of Paradise in Heaven."

"So, you're telling me to wait? Judgement Day will come?"

Gabriel nodded, letting go of Sam again to cross his arms over his chest, it was an unusually vulnerable position from him.

"Sam, look at the list of enemies you went up against, sometimes even without preparation." Gabriel also reminded him, lips pulling up into a smirk, "you really think Ketch stands a chance against the guy who let the Devil in and won?" Gabriel snorted and then pushed himself off the wall, he grabbed the ammunition box and carried it back over to the shelves for it. "And once we got this current mess cleared up I'll gladly help you draw out amazing revenge plans."

"You're a terrible influence," Sam pointed out but nevertheless felt his mind settle down again, fury over Ketch disappearing slightly and making more room again for memories of Eileen, the good and the bad.

But Sam rather dealt with grief than anger when he felt this close to vibrating right out of his skin.

"Learned from the best," Gabriel hit him back and then they both froze for a long moment before turning to look at each other, Sam with a secured gun in his hands. "That... was an awful joke. Sorry for that." Gabriel grimaced and then visibly shook it off. "Come on, put that gun away and then find a corner to talk that doesn't smell like gunpowder and alpha male hormones." Sam huffed but set the gun back to its right place before following Gabriel out of the range, he turned them to his room because that was going to be the only room where he would have the conversation that Gabriel was no doubt wanting to have.

\--

"Alright, what brought this on? You were fine when we got back." Gabriel started his questions while stretching out his legs onto the foot of Sam's bed, lounging in the chair at the side of it as he was. Sam leaned back against the headboard of his bed and breathed out loudly.

"The movie. The scene where they... Eileen was deaf," he explained to make any kind of sense and he couldn't decide between looking at Gabriel's genuinely interested face or the blankess of the ceiling above him.

"The horrid scene where the deaf girl getting hrut got used to stupidly further the plot?" Gabriel guessed at it and hit it right in the bullseye, Sam nodded, swallowing back down this thing that kept crawling up his chest again.

"Recently I'm stuck between thinking of her all the time and scared of forgetting to think of her because I'm head over hells in one mess after the other," Sam confessed where he was stuck and turned his head to look at Gabriel for good now. "I don't know what it was tonight. Maybe it's because I saw you get that revenge wish fulfilled. Maybe it's because we're so close to getting Mom and Jack back. Good things are happening, but she's still gone. I can't get her back."

"You won't forget her, Sam. You don't forget people who had such an impact on your life, especially a good one," Gabriel lectured him without any harsh intent, just a gentle reminder. "She'll always be part of who you are right now, the man you became through the ups and downs of the last years. You love her, and that's not going to go away. No matter what the future will still bring, there'll always be a part in you for her."

"I don't know if..."

"Sam, trust me in this, okay? I've had a little more experience with this than you." Gabriel insisted and Sam shut up again, "you have one of the biggest and brightest hearts, if not the, of everyone I've ever met. There is so much space in you for loving your family, your friends, nothing will ever have to make room just so someone else can get in there." Sam closed his eyes when he felt tears prickling at wanting to fall, and he wasn't ashamed when he lost the fight after all, silent tears sliding down his face. "Tell me about her," Gabriel encouraged and he just knew what to say, "whatever you feel like talking about."

And Sam talked.

He told Gabriel everything about the incredible woman Eileen had been.

\--

Once upon a time there had been an amazing woman who hadn't let a physical disability stop her from becoming something powerful and awe inspiring.

Once upon a time there had been a deaf hunter who had sought vengeance for what had happened to her parents and herself, who hadn't let it control her until there was nothing left for cold dark wishes for revenge.

Once upon a time there had been a kind beautiful woman with a wonderful smile, a sharp wit and a way too unending patience for a clumsily trying to string a sentence together younger Winchester.

Once upon a time there had been a hunter who had been ally, friend and family.

Once upon a time there had been Eileen Leahy who had deserved the world, the sun, the stars, the moon and all in between.

Once upon a time there had been a woman Sam had loved and lost but would never forget.

\--

"Thank you," Sam told Gabriel what felt like hours later, cried out and tongue heavy from talking so much but feeling lighter, no longer being crushed from the inside by ice cold grief and burning pain of loss. Gabriel smiled and patted his head, tugged Sam under the blanket as if Sam was still a child and not just uncoordinated from crying too much and being too worn out and tired to function still. "For listening. And asking after her."

"It's what friends are for, Sammy," Gabriel said quietly, reaching out to squeeze Sam's shoulder, "sleep now, tomorrow we'll get your Mom and my nephew back," and then he sent Sam into a restful sleep without any dreams because as much as he would have maybe wanted to dream of Eileen, he was too scared it might turn into nightmares too easily.

\--

Once upon a time there was an Archangel who didn't want to see the Winchesters dead.

Once upon a time Gabriel died to save them, twice, but only one time for real.

Once upon a time Sam lost a friend and though he grieved for him he didn't let it tear him apart because like Gabriel had said, people who impacted your life so much would forever be a part of you. Especially if it was in a good way.

Once upon a time Sam lost Gabriel but didn't lose hope.

\--

Once upon a time there was a God who went a little crazy as the puppet master.

Once upon a time there was a God who turned off the lights because his favourite characters didn't follow the script anymore.

Once upon a time Sam shot God and lived.

Once upon a time they learned that God could be possessed, too, and needed saving from two old creaky hunters.

Once upon a time God tore the scripts to pieces and gave them their happy endings.

\--

Sam stared.

He stared and stared and stared and his ears were ringing and numb at the same time. He couldn't hear anything. His tongue was heavy, his lips were numb. He couldn't say anything but was desperate to talk.

Once upon a present time Sam Winchester closed his eyes when soft gentle hands got raised to cup his face on both sides, thumbs stroking over his cheeks, wiping away tears he hadn't even known to be falling from his eyes.

He didn't know how long he had been standing frozen in the middle of the library in the bunker, didn't know if Dean was still hugging Adam until he couldn't breathe, didn't know if Cas and Jack had disappeared yet to have their own warm reunion or if they were still around, clutching onto another, Cas crying over the son he got back. None of it mattered. None of it. He was terrified to open his eyes and find out he was dreaming only after all. He was desperate to open his eyes and just look.

Just look at her.

Just drink her in.

Her.

Alive.

Adam back. Jack back.

And now Eileen...

He was crying for good when a finger got tapped against his temple until he opened his eyes, giving him a blurry vision of Eileen's smiling face but the sight of it nevertheless. She took her hands back and signed a simple 'Hello,Sam' and Sam laughed and sobbed at the same time, forgot to breathe and choked a little but what did any of it matter when she was there. Right here. Eileen's smile brightened even more and he fumbled with his hands, trying to get his question out.

'How...'

But he was shaking too much with the desire to hug her that he abandoned it halfway through and just pulled her into a hug, crushing her against his chest nearly because he couldn't hold back. Eileen didn't seem to mind though because she wrapped her arms around him, too, and squeezed just as strongly. And Sam breathed, he breathed and he cried and he watched how Dean stopped fussing over Adam to hug Jack again, how Cas turned to talk to Adam who still looked overwhelmed.

He breathed and buried his face in dark long hair, he just needed all senses to understand that he wasn't dreaming, that she was really back with him.

It was Eileen who broke them apart after a while, right hand pulling something from her jacket pocket, signing as she handed it over to him. 'He said you would understand what it meant.' And Sam looked down at the red lollipop and nearly hiccuped with laughter and renewed tears before looking up to Eileen again. 'He will come visit when Chuck is better.'

"I don't know what to say." Sam admitted and he couldn't even sign because his mind was too all over the place to remember most of the signs he had learned for her. "I don't know... Eileen." She though seemed to know exactly what she wanted because she brought one hand up to his face again, went up on her tip toes and kissed him. Sam wished he could stop crying but happiness was just taking over the steering wheel in his mind and heart and soul and he wasn't in control of anything anymore.

"We have time," Eileen said after they broke apart again, her once more wiping away his tears, "we have time now. So much time, Sam." He smiled and she smiled back, took his hand and led him over to the family waiting for them. Sam didn't let go of Eileen's hand, even when she hugged Dean and Cas and introduced herself to Jack and Adam.

In both hands he held reminders that good things happened to him now, too.

Friends back. Family back. Love back.

Sam Winchester had gotten his happy ending.


End file.
